


Chemistry through Cooking

by nychus



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cooking, Fluff, Gen, Ignis Fluff Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 14:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12986529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: To keep dangerous chemicals out of the house, Ignis learns chemistry through cooking.





	Chemistry through Cooking

**Author's Note:**

> Ignis Fluff Week Day 3 Prompt: Food, food and more food
> 
> I had the hardest time with this one. It's not nearly as researched as it should be (I'd love to have been more specific about things), but it was crunch time and I was frustrated, so there you go.

After a year of living in Insomnia, Ignis found he was quite interested in chemistry. Something about chemical reactions and making something turn to something else seemed like magic. He asked his uncle for a chemistry set, but balked at all the “kid’s first chemistry sets.” Stupeo wasn’t about to allow his nephew to play with dangerous chemicals without the supervision of an adult, even if the eight year old was brilliant. It was fine for Ignis to do such things in his school lessons, but inviting explosive ingredients into the home was a hard no.

However, Stupeo hated to disappoint his nephew. Ignis was bright, cheerful, and a great friend to the prince, it almost seemed like a punishment to not allow him to further his studies. Stupeo considered a variety of ways to add more chemistry to Ignis’s life, but nothing seemed feasible.

Nothing, that is, until Stupeo was grumbling at a charred pan that seemed impossible to clean.

He stared at the pan for a moment, looking at the carbon build up that had been left and realized that cooking was essentially chemistry. Ingredients reacted together, changed due to heat, and could leave behind rather nasty (and annoying) residue all because of chemistry.

Ignis could do chemistry through cooking. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it was something that Ignis could experiment with and see how different ingredients worked or didn’t work with each other.

The young adviser was skeptical at the idea at first, but soon found himself constantly thinking about various ways to improve recipes. He started simple, following the instructions, tasting the results, and then figuring out what he could improve upon.

Some days, the results were amazing. Other days, Stupeo insisted they go out for dinner. It was fun, though, trying new combinations.

When he came up with a particularly good recipe, Ignis would reproduce it for Noctis. The prince would join him in one of the Citadels many kitchens while Ignis worked; until he got bored, then he would run off until food was ready.

As they grew older, Ignis’s ability to tweak recipes became invaluable to a picky prince who refused vegetables in any way, shape, or form. Being able to understand how different vegetables reacted with other ingredients, Ignis managed to hide the taste inside just about anything he prepared for Noctis.

His interest in chemistry would eventually wane as it was more important for him to understand politics and strategies, but he could never give up the cooking. Noctis’s health relied too much on the snuck in vegetables and though the novelty eventually wore out, Ignis found he would always be the prince’s personal chef.

There could be worse things, he supposed. Cooking, at least, stretched his brain and kept him thinking.

Of course, his favorite thing about cooking quickly became seeing the smiles on others’ faces as they enjoyed the meal. If genuine smiles weren’t seen on the majority of the people he cooked for, he figured it wasn’t the best and must be improved upon.

Noctis’s smile was always his favorite. It would always be his favorite. From when they were young and Ignis was using the Citadel kitchens to when the prince had his own apartment with a kitchen just for Ignis (it was never once considered that someone other than Ignis would us it), it was the smile Ignis sought. Sometimes the adviser was the only one who could see the smile, but years together meant they could read each other almost perfectly.

The first time that Prompto got to experience an Ignis meal was one Saturday morning after staying the night with Noctis. The pair had spent much of the night playing video games so they could unwind after all their exams were finished. Ignis thought he would reward them by making pancakes. He knew enough about Prompto that he figured the blond would wake very early and sure enough, he was reading in the living room when Ignis arrived. The adviser had no intention of waking the prince. He was going to fix breakfast for Prompto and then wait until Noctis graced them with his presence before cooking for him.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Noctis trudged out of the bedroom and fixed Ignis with a glare.

“Problems, your Highness?”

“You’re making pancakes,” he said.

“Yes.”

“It’s too early for pancakes.”

“Noctis, it’s breakfast time. Breakfast time is when you have pancakes.”

From the living room, Prompto laughed. “Pancakes wake you up and not coffee?” Ignis had prepared some coffee for himself before starting.

“Can’t you smell the syrup that Ignis is making? Smells so much better than coffee,” Noctis said taking a seat at the breakfast bar as Ignis placed a plate of pancakes in front of him.

Prompto came over and took the other seat. “Wow, I hadn’t even noticed,” he said as he watched Noctis pour the syrup on his stack. “You made this?”

As he placed a plate in front of Prompto, Ignis said, “It’s not difficult. Just boil fruit and sugar in water.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Noctis said, mouth full of pancake, earning him a reproachful stare from Ignis, “nothing he makes is simple.”

After Prompto took bite, his eyes widened. “Dude, this is amazing!” Prompto exclaimed, earning a look from Ignis as well.

Ignis thanked the blonde and then looked over at Noctis to see his eyes bright and happy as he took another bite.

Yes, he would always be Noctis’s personal chef, but the reward was well worth it.


End file.
